While anything SEO related is always a cause of controversy, one of the biggest talking points in the last year has been the power, relevance, and necessity of SEO copywriting. With content marketing set to be huge in the coming years, the debate around SEO copywriting is one that needs to be played out now, with definitive ideas and answers emanating from within it.

To help you get started with understanding SEO copywriting, we’ve looked at some of the myths that are commonly promoted by various groups, including copywriters (mostly) and SEO agencies (sometimes).These myths might be costing you money in lost sales, as well as payments to SEO agencies or writers who are not actually driving any traffic to your site with their work. It isn’t all on them; you’re probably a guilty party with some of these, too!

Google’s Algorithm Makes SEO Writing Irrelevant

Yes, Google are changing their general algorithm on a daily basis, as well as putting bigger updates into place with their Penguin and Panda algorithms. However, what they’re not doing is looking at every piece of content and penalizing pages where keywords have been obviously used.

Of course, articles that are low quality and a poor effort at manipulating Google will continue to get what they deserve.

Natural Writing Works Fine

This is going to be the biggest cause of disagreement for many years, one would imagine. While it is true that writing naturally is the best approach to take, sometimes it isn’t going to feature any of your keywords or phrases. At the same time, we’re not suggesting that you ought to ensure you have a key term in every sentence, and spend hours writing a 500 word piece just to make sure it ‘looks good for SEO.’

Instead, write your content, and when proofreading and editing take the time to see where you can sprinkle in your keywords. Natural writing will read better, so stick to what you’re doing but make SEO part of the proofing process.

SEO is Instant

Probably the biggest SEO myth there is, but unfortunately one that is still peddled by those companies who claim to know Google’s ‘secret’ and can get you to number one in the search rankings within a month.

The biggest, in fact the only, SEO secret you need to know is that there is no secret; if you use Google Webmaster Tools or read their resources regularly, you’ll find that they’re basically telling you what you need to know without doing it for you.

Stop throwing money at people to get your rankings improved instantly, it isn’t going to happen.

Keyword Density is Important

Sigh. Look around the internet, and you’ll be able to find numerous resources that feature complex calculations you need to make in order to achieve optimum keyword density. These are a waste of time; keyword density is probably second only to ‘instant SEO’ in the myths league table.

You don’t need to make sure you’re hitting 5% or 10%, using a keyword once will do.

Avoid these SEO writing myths, and you’ll find you use resources much more effectively and find your SEO efforts bear fruit sooner rather than later.

Author Bio:Allen Greene is an SEO consultant who is currently using the enthuse.me social platform to connect with fellow experts as well as show off his current portfolio of work.